Using
Wind to Power Long Island!

Clean,
inexhaustable energy
for the 21st Century

Long
Island Offshore Wind Farm Proposal "Taken Off the Table"

Wind
power is clean, technologically mature, and not dependent on
diminishing fossil fuels. On Long Island, there is little available
open land where wind turbines can be placed, and on onshore
winds are not sufficiently powerful for large-scale wind farms
to be economically feasible.

It was recently
announced by LIPA that plans for the proposed offshore wind farm
to be built by Florida Power and Light would be cancelled. The
reason given for the cancellation of the project was the increasing
projected cost for the project. A recently released study from
Pace Global Energy Services estimated that the potential rate
impact from the offshore windfarm, at the higher projected cost,
would be about $2.50 per month for the average residential customer
(about a 1.6% increase in the bill).

The Neighborhood
Network belives
that wind power and off-shore wind facilities should still play
a significant role in Long Island's energy future, even though
this particular proposal has been taken off the table. On the
cancellation of the Florida Power and Light proposal, Neighborhood
Network Executive Director, Neal Lewis was quoted in Newsday,
August 23, 2007, "I think a number of things went wrong with
the whole process. We indicated years ago that cost issues should
have been brought out in a more forthright way."

The Neighborhood Network
is calling on LIPA to commission a major study of potential renewable
energy projects for Long Island. The study should be broad in
scope, with all technologies and sites on the table. It should
be conducted by a well respected independent firm, and should
actively solicit public input. In cases where conflicts arise,
professional third-party mediation should be employed to help
identify common ground, and acceptable mitigation measures. We
look forward to working with LIPA to help identify new opportunities
for developing renewable energy.

An operating
offshore windfarm in Vindeby, Denmark, built in 1991

The proposal received consistently high approval ratings from
the general public. In a recent Cablevision News 12 online poll,
87% of those responding were against killing the windfarm proposal,
and a 2006 Hofstra University poll found 85% of respondents supportive
of LIPAs offshore wind project. Offshore wind energy production
is also supported by the Islands leading labor and business
organizations such as the Long Island Association, Hauppauge Industrial
Association, Long Island Mid-Suffolk Business Association and
the Nassau/Suffolk Building and Construction Trades Council.

The Neighborhood Network
is a member of Wind Works Long Island. See windworks4li.org
for mor information about the offshore wind project.

Advantages
of wind power:

Wind
power is clean and inexhaustible. Taking power from the
wind releases no emissions and does not deplete natural resources.

Wind
power promotes local economic development. Wind power
creates more jobs per dollar invested and per kWh generated. A
study by the New York State Energy Office found that 10 million
kWh of electricity produced by wind energy generates 27 % more
jobs in the state than the same amount of energy produced by a
coal plant and 66 % more jobs than a natural gas combined-cycle
power plant. This is because most money spent on wind power is
spent on local labor, rather than on foreign, or out-of-state
fuel.

Wind
power reduces dependence on fossil fuels that are subject to price
volatility. Because it uses no fuel, the cost of wind
power is much more stable. Oil, coal and gas power plants are
dependent on fuels that are subject to shortages and price spikes.
Future environmental regulations may also increase the costs of
operating fossil fuel burning plants, either by adding a surcharge
for emissions, or requiring costly emission control technologies.

Although construction
and maintenance costs are somewhat higher for offshore turbines,
winds on the ocean are stronger, more consistent and less turbulent
than on land, so they produce more energy. In addition due to
the lower turbulance, which results from winds travelling more
smoothly over water than land, offshore turbines are subjected
to less wear and may have a longer life-span. Offshore wind farms
have already been established in northern Europe in water depths
up to 50 feet, and advances in undersea foundation designs are
making deeper water placement more cost effective.

Did you
know?

A study commissioned
by LIPA found that wind turbines along the south shore, between
3 and six miles off shore could supply a significant portion of
Long Island's electricity needs. To download the study follow
this link: http://www.lioffshorewindenergy.org/study.html.

Many European
countries have made the construction of land-based and offshore
wind farms a top energy policy priority. According to the Brussels
based Global Wind Energy Council (www.gwec.net ), installed global
wind power capacity has grown to 59,322 MW.